Portable folding potty seat assembly

ABSTRACT

In various embodiments, a portable and foldable potty seat assembly may include a main wall, a side wall, a top seating cover, and a supporting wall. The walls are operable to be folded inward to form a compact apparatus for the ease of carrying and storage, and operable to be folded outward to form a potty ready for use. A plastic bag and a container may be coupled with the apparatus for the use of potty. The walls may have structures of extrusion, recess, and configurations to either support the top seating covers or accommodate other walls. The portable and foldable potty seat assembly may include a chair back and a handle to make the seating more comfortable and secure.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to a portable and foldable pottyseat assembly.

2. Description of the Related Art

Traveling with young children can present problems when the toddler oryoung child needs to use a potty. The problems or difficulties could bethat a bathroom or a sanitary bathroom may be unavailable, kids can notwait and need to use a potty right away, a big and traditional pottyseat is difficult to carry while traveling, a stable and small pottyseat that can be put on the plastic bag or Ziploc is not available, etc.The potty-chair or potty-seat, such as the ones made by Baby Bjorn pottychair, and by Once Upon a Potty chair, are typically used at home andare not small in size and therefore they are not convenient to carrywhen people are on the road. Also, the traditional potty seats are notdesigned to couple with a plastic bag or Ziploc and they becomedifficult when people do not have resources to clean the potty chair.Therefore, the invention here provides a potty seat assembly that isflexible, foldable, and small in size, and the designed potty seatassembly is to be used with a container, a plastic bag, or a Ziploc bag.After the use, the potty seat can be folded back to a very small size.Although the designed portable potty seat assembly is mainly forchildren but it is also a good necessity for adults, for example, it canbe used at urgent conditions when potty is needed, and for people areouting for camping where restroom is not available, and in oneembodiment, it acts as a chair.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The embodiment of the present invention provides a flexible potty seatassembly that is foldable and portable.

In one embodiment, the portable potty assembly contains several foldablecomponents. The assembly can be folded outward ready for potty use andcan be folded inward for ease of carrying and storage

In one embodiment, the portable potty contains top seat covers, mainwalls, side walls, bottom walls, and components of supporting walls.

In one embodiment, the components of the potty seat assembly are coupledtogether with hinge structure.

In one embodiment, the walls may have structure to support the topseating covers and to support the weight from seating.

In one embodiment, the components of supporting walls are embeddedinside and coupled with the base pieces.

In one embodiment, the components of the potty seat assembly are mattedtogether so the entire structure is stable.

In one embodiment, the components of the supporting walls are to bestanding on the based pieces.

In one embodiment, after the flexible potty assembly is folded outwardor extended out, the supporting walls are put on, then a plastic bag ora Ziploc bag can be coupled to the supporting walls to act as a pottycontainer.

In one embodiment, the portable potty seat assembly can function as achair and a stool. The portable potty seat assembly may include a chairback and a handle structure for securing the seating.

In one embodiment, the top seat covers may be coupled together to holdand to clamp the plastic bag for the use of the potty.

In one embodiment, the components of the top covers and side walls maybe folded toward the main walls.

In one embodiment, after the flexible potty assembly is folded outward,and the top covers are put on, then a plastic bag or a Ziploc bag can becoupled to the top covers to act as a potty container.

In one embodiment, a container is embedded inside the portable pottyseat assembly. The container may be composed by a single piece ormultiple pieces. The side walls and main walls may have recess toaccommodate the container pieces.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A better understanding of the present invention may be obtained when thefollowing detailed description is considered in conjunction with thefollowing drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a fully folded out potty seat assembly ready for use;

FIG. 2 illustrates a fully folded out potty seat assembly ready for use;

FIG. 3 illustrates a folded out potty seat assembly;

FIG. 4 a illustrates a view of top covers, side walls, and a main wall;

FIG. 4 b illustrates the components of top covers are folded inside themain wall;

FIG. 5 a illustrates a view of bottom pieces, side walls, and a mainwall;

FIG. 5 b illustrates the components of bottom walls are folded insidethe main wall;

FIGS. 6 a and 6 b illustrate that the side walls are coupled togetherwith a hinge structure and they can be folded in or out;

FIG. 7 a illustrates that the bottom pieces are coupled together with ahinge structure and they can be folded in or out, and the components ofthe supporting walls are embedded inside the bottom walls;

FIG. 7 b illustrates that the components of the supporting walls are puton;

FIGS. 8 a and 8 b illustrates the components of the supporting walls;

FIG. 8 c illustrates a cross sectional view of the components of thesupporting walls inside the portable potty seat assembly;

FIG. 9 illustrates a view of the components of the supporting wallsinside the portable potty seat assembly;

FIG. 10 a illustrates all components are folded inward;

FIG. 10 b illustrates all components are fully folded inward to form acompact assembly;

FIG. 11 a illustrates a chair back structure is coupled with theportable potty seat assembly.

FIGS. 11 b and 11 c illustrate the handle structure is coupled with thechair back structure.

FIG. 12 illustrates a foldable potty seat assembly with top coversfolding toward the main walls.

FIG. 13 illustrates a foldable potty seat assembly with side wallsfolded toward each other, and toward the main walls.

FIG. 14 illustrates that the top covers and side walls are folded towarda main wall.

FIG. 15 illustrate that the top covers are coupled together to form atop seat cover assembly.

FIGS. 16 and 17 illustrates the top covers are assembled together toform a compact assembly.

FIG. 18 and FIG. 19 illustrate that top covers are coupled together toclamp a bag for the use of potty.

FIG. 20 illustrates a container may be coupled to the portable pottyseat.

FIG. 21 illustrates a container is embedded inside the portable pottyseat assembly.

While the invention is susceptible to various modifications andalternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way ofexample in the drawings and will herein be described in detail. Itshould be understood, however, that the drawings and detaileddescription thereto are not intended to limit the invention to theparticular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is tocover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling withinthe spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appendedclaims. Furthermore, note that the word “may” is used throughout thisapplication in a permissive sense (i.e., having the potential to, beingable to), not a mandatory sense (i.e., must). The term “include”, andderivations thereof, mean “including, but not limited to”. The term“coupled” means “directly or indirectly connected”.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The invention generally relates to a portable and foldable potty seatassembly. Such portable seat assembly may be used at differentconditions and occasions, such as, for the use at home, for the use whena bathroom is not available, for the use when people have concerns thatpublic bathroom is not sanitary, for the use when people are on theroad, for the use when kids or toddlers or adults can not wait and needto use a potty right away, for the use when people can not carry bigpotty seats and this invention of potty seat assembly on the contrary iseasy to carry, for the use when people go camping, and so on.

The advantages and the structure of the portable seat assembly will beexplained in detail in the text and with figures below. FIGS. 1 and 2illustrate an assembled portable potty seat. The components of theportable seat assembly are all folded outward to form a potty seat readyfor use. The portable potty seat assembly comprises top seat covers 10,main walls 20, side walls 30, bottom walls 40, and supporting walls 70.The components of walls may be coupled together with hinge structures sothe components are foldable. The top seat covers 10 are configured tohave a hole in the middle for the use of potty. For the design shown inFIGS. 1 and 2, the assembly includes two pieces of the main walls 20,two pieces of top seat covers 10, four pieces of side walls 30, twopieces of bottom walls 40. In one embodiment, the number of walls isadjustable. More number of walls will have more pieces and will havemore components to be folded. In another embodiment, the main walls 20and side walls 30 are interchangeable, which means their locations canbe exchanged.

FIG. 3 illustrates the portable potty seat assembly. One piece of thetop seat cover 10 a is coupled to one piece of main wall 20 a with ahinge structure, and the two pieces of top seat covers 10 are coupledtogether with hinge structures. In the figure, the top seat covers 10are pulled out upward, and the top seat covers 10 may be put down to layon the main wall 20 to form a surface for seating. The edge of the topseat cover 10 b may mate with the edge of the main wall 20 b, and theedge of both walls may have structure to help matting and to enforce thestructure stability. The side walls 30 are used to confine the top seatcovers 10 and may be used to support the potty seat assembly.

FIGS. 4 a and 4 b illustrate how the top seat covers 10 are folded-in toform a compact structure. Two pieces of top seat covers 10 are foldedtogether and then the two pieces are folded together again into a recessregion on the main wall 20 a. The side walls 36 may have structures andconfigurations, as the circled region shown in FIG. 4 b and FIG. 5 b, tosupport the weight from top seat covers 10 after seating. Similarly, thetwo bottom walls 40 may be folded together and the two pieces are foldedtogether again to put inside a recess region on the main wall 20 b, asshown in FIGS. 5 a and 5 b. The edge of the bottom wall 40 b may matewith the edge of the main wall 20 a, and the edge of both walls may havestructures and configurations to help matting and to enforce thestructure stability. In order to form a compact portable potty seat, itis important that all components are foldable, and FIGS. 6 a and 6 billustrate that the side walls 30 are operable to be folded inward andoutward.

FIG. 7 a illustrates the two pieces of bottom walls 40 are to be foldedtogether to form a compact structure, and the supporting walls 70 areembedded inside the bottom walls 40. FIG. 7 b illustrates that the twobottom walls 40 are folded out, and there are four supporting walls 70.The supporting walls 70 may couple with supporting bars 80 to hold thesupporting walls 70 at desired angle and locations. There are foursupporting walls 70 in the figure and the supporting walls 70 may couplewith bottom walls 40 with hinge structure, spring structure, or with anyother attachment structure. In one embodiment, the number, geometry,configuration, and location of the supporting walls 70 may be varied andadjusted, and all the variation shall be considered within the scope ofthe embodiment here. In another embodiment, the bottom walls 40 may haverecess region 50 to accommodate the support walls 70 and the recessregion 50 could be a pocket or a through hole. In a further embodiment,the recess region may have surface patterns 60 to adjust and to controlthe angle and location of the supporting walls 70.

FIG. 8 a illustrates a supporting wall 70 and a supporting bar 80 may becoupled together with a hinge-like structure, and the supporting wall 70may couple with bottom walls 40 with a hinge-like structure as well. Inone embodiment, the hinge and hinge-like structure are not the onlyattachment method and other attachment approaches can be used as well,such as spring structure, or components are connected together and thesupporting walls 70 act like a cup lid to be open and close, etc. Allthe variations of the attachment methods should be considered within thescope of the embodiment here. The supporting walls 70 basically functionas a supporter to hold a container, a paper bag, a plastic bag, or aZiploc bag. FIG. 8 b illustrates the supporting walls 70 are holding asolid container 90. FIG. 8 c illustrates a side view of the supportingwalls 70, supporting bars 80, and a Ziploc bag 91 inside the portableseat assembly. The Ziploc bag 91 is to contain the material droppingfrom top.

FIG. 9 illustrates the external and internal components of the portablepotty seat assembly. FIG. 10 a illustrates the components of theportable potty seat are folded into a compact assembly and FIG. 10 billustrates a fully folded-in, compact portable potty seat assembly.

FIG. 11 a illustrates a chair like structure is coupled. A chair back 95structure may be embedded inside the main wall 20 a. When the componentis pulled out, it will function as a chair back. When the portable pottyseat assembly is not in use, the chair back 95 component is pushedinside the main wall 20 a to save the storage size. In one embodiment,the chair back structure may have different configurations and geometry.In FIG. 11 a, the chair back 95 structure is perpendicular to the topseat cover 10 a. In one embodiment, the chair back structure 95 may beconfigured to have an angle with respect to the top seat cover surfaceto make the seating more comfortable. FIGS. 11 b and 11 c illustrate ahandle structure 96 may be embedded inside the chair back structure 95.The chair back structure 95 and handle structure 96 are useful to securethe seating for young kids and toddlers. When the handle structure 96 isneeded, it can be pulled out following the directions of arrows as shownin FIG. 11 b and FIG. 11 c. In one embodiment, the handle structure 96may have different configuration and geometry, and the handle structure96 may couple with chair back structure 95 with a hinge and otherattachment methods.

In FIG. 3, the two top seating covers 10 are coupled together with ahinge structure then the two seating covers 10 are laid on and coupledwith main walls 20 and side walls 30 to form a portable potty seatassembly. Different from FIG. 3, FIG. 12 illustrates each top seatingcover 10 is coupled with one main wall 20 and each seat cover 10 can befolded toward the main wall 20 to save the storage space, and FIG. 13illustrates a portable potty seat assembly is folding inwardly. Insummary, the components of the portable potty seat assembly are to befolded outwardly to form a potty seat ready for use, and to be foldedinwardly to form a compact assembly for ease of carrying or storage. Thetop seat covers 10 are configured to have a hole in the middle for theuse of potty. FIG. 14 illustrates the components are foldable followingthe directions as shown. In one embodiment, the top seat covers 10 maynot have a hole then the entire assembly acts as a portable chair orstool.

FIG. 15 illustrates the top covers 10 may have more than two pieces. Inthe figure, the assembly contains four pieces of top seating covers 10,with covers 10 a and 10 b on top of covers of 10 c and 10 d. In oneembodiment, the number of pieces of top seating covers 10 is adjustable.These top seating covers are coupled together to function as a seatingplate for the use of potty.

FIGS. 16 and 17 illustrate the top seating covers 10 are coupledtogether and the covers may have structures of extrusion and recess onthem, and the structure may have different geometries andconfigurations. The direction of arrow in FIG. 16 illustrates how thecovers 10 are coupled together. These structures on the covers maybetter help the mating or coupling of the covers, and they may act as aclamp to clamp a bag.

FIGS. 18 and 19 illustrate the two top seating covers, 10 a and 10 b,are on top of the other two pieces of top covers, 10 c and 10 d. Whenthe covers are assembled together, they act as a clamp to hold a plasticbag or a Ziploc bag in place for the use of potty. FIGS. 18 and 19illustrate a tiny gap sits in between top covers 10 b and 10 d. The gapregion can be used to accommodate and to clamp the plastic bag. In oneembodiment, the top covers 10 may have different shapes in extrusion andin recess in order to clamp the plastic bag in place. Here, FIG. 18 andFIG. 19 show two simple configurations. In one embodiment, variousconfigurations, patterns, and geometries on the top covers 10 may beused and all these variation shall be considered within the scope of theinvention here.

Instead of a plastic bag or a Ziploc bag, a potty container 90 may beused to couple with the assembly, and FIG. 20 illustrates such anapplication. In practical application, a container which can be embeddedinside the portable potty assembly is preferred and FIG. 21 illustratessuch a design. The figure shows that a solid container 90 is coupled tothe portable potty assembly at its base. The container can be composedby a single piece or several pieces. In FIG. 21, the solid container 90is composed with two pieces. FIG. 21 a illustrates the solid container90 is embedded inside the portable potty assembly so the entirestructure is very compact. FIG. 21 b illustrate the container is takenout and put underneath the portable potty seat for use. FIGS. 21 c and21 d illustrate the two pieces of the solid container 90 are coupledtogether so their size can be very compact. FIGS. 21 e and 21 fillustrates how the two pieces of the solid containers 90 are assembledtogether. In one embodiment, various coupling mechanism can be used toform a container, and all these variation shall be considered within theembodiment here.

1. An apparatus, comprising: a main wall, a side wall, a top seatingcover, a bottom wall, and a hinge structure to form a portable andfoldable potty seat assembly.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein thetop seating covers contain a hole in the center for the use of potty. 3.The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the side wall and main wall havestructure of extrusion, recess, and configurations to support the topseating covers.
 4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the portable pottyseat assembly is operable to function as a seating chair.
 5. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein the bottom wall contains the components ofsupport walls to hold a bag for the use of potty, and the supportingwalls are operable to be foldable on the bottom walls to form a compactassembly.
 6. An apparatus of claim 1, wherein the top seating covers areoperable to hold and to clamp a bag for the use of potty, and the topseating covers have structures of extrusions, recess, and configurationsto clamp a bag.
 7. An apparatus of claim 1, wherein the top seatingcovers have structures of extrusions, recess, and configurations toclamp a bag.
 8. An apparatus of claim 1, wherein the foldable potty seatassembly is operable to couple with a chair back and a handle to makethe seating more comfortable.
 9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein thefoldable potty seat assembly is operable to couple with a container forthe use of potty.
 10. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the supportingwalls are operable to function as a holder and a support for a bag toput on.
 11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the main walls, sidewalls, top seating covers, and bottom walls are operable to be able tobe folded inward to form a compact potty assembly for the ease ofcarrying and storage, and operable to be folded outward to form a pottyseat assembly ready for use.
 12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein thewalls are coupled together with hinge elements.
 13. The apparatus ofclaim 1, wherein the top seating covers have structures of extrusion andrecess to accommodate the supporting elements on the side walls.